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The Duck Punchers
Duck Punchers was THE premiere franchise of the League of Champions. First all time in wins and winning percentage, DP is the lone team to make four playoff appearances and one of only two teams to play in two Championship Games. Duck Punchers has had three first round byes to go along with their four playoff bids and won it all in 2014 by beating the 2012 champion ma ma momma said. Skilled in both drafting and post-draft pickups, Duck Punchers has few weaknesses and even fewer losses. 2011 Draft In 2011, by way of randomization, Duck Punchers was put in the unique high-pressure position of being the first team to ever make a pick in League of Champions draft history. With the pick he selected pro-bowler Arian Foster, then followed it up 23 picks later with pro-bowler Matt Forte. At 96 he picked tight-end Jimmy Graham, who would later become the third player on the roster to attend the pro-bowl that season. When the Morning Comes...(2011 Season) In 2011 Duck Punchers went by the name Morning Woodhead. Though they weren't able to draft Woodhead in 2011, they would end up with him three of the next four seasons. Duck Punchers was the last team to lose a game in 2011, starting off the League with a five-game win streak. Detractors still pointed to the strength of schedule, easiest in the league through the first month of the season. Duck Punchers had not won a game against a team with an above-.500 record. When they finally did face a team with a winning record, they lost. QB controversy swirled as the season wore on. Neither Schaub nor Fitzpatrick were stepping up and Schaub was racking up sacks and picks. That question was answered in early November when Schaub had a season ending injury and was dropped in favor of Carson Palmer. In week 12, with the first overall seed on the line, MW faced their toughest opponant and most important game of the season. #FreeOJ was calling it the "Clash of the Titans" and guarenteeing a victory. Duck Punchers was ahead in the standings but wasn't favored to win with Arian Foster on the bye and Ryan Fitzpatrick struggling. DP continued to struggle against teams above .500 and lost this one 246.90-118.23, the third time in four games that they had failed to break the 200-point line. Despite having a playoff spot locked in following the loss to #FreeOJ, they still hadn't proven that they could beat elite teams. After releasing a statement that they would still be fighting for the first round bye, #FreeOJ shot back, telling them it wasn't even worth trying. The future of the franchise was written in the last two weeks of the 2011 season, though no one knew it at the time. First they faced ma ma momma said, who they beat handily to secure a first round bye. Then they went up against Papa's Posse, to whom they narrowly lost. Who could have guessed that these would be the matchups and outcomes of both Duck Punchers Championship Games? Duck Punchers came out of the bye week and finally beat a team with a winning record. B-2 Hallway Gangstas had just gotten done beating GaroppoblowMe for the second time in three weeks and was a big underdog in the match. The 45.45 point win settled any doubts that Duck Punchers deserved to be headed to the Championship Game. The Championship Game did not go as planned. Duck Punchers was up 222.50-175.21 and was confident that he was taking the title. Watching the Monday Night game from team headquarters in Bonnet Shores, Rhode Island, DP owners were already beginning to celebrate. As Matt Ryan began accumulating completions in an attempt to come back from down three scores in the second half of a game against rival New Orleans, the room grew quiet. Haskins, watching along with GaroppoblowMe manager DiGennaro, switched off his stat tracker as Papa's Posse pulled ahead. The air left the room. The Championship Trophy hopes were squashed. Duck Punchers's 2011 season culminated in a Championship Game loss. Many to this day will still argue that their team was a recipiant of an easy schedule. They had the fourth highest point total in the league and the third easiest schedule. No matter what anyone says, the success of Duck Punchers was just beginning and better seasons were just over the horizon. 2012 Draft 2013 Draft 2014 Draft 2015 Draft Bad Luck Rainy days were ahead for Duck Punchers. The 2015 season did not start like the others. DP, who had not lost back to back games since 2012, lost three of their first four. Luck led the laundry list of problems, throwing seven picks in his first three games before going down with a shoulder injury prior to week 4. Choosing not to trust their 110th overall pick Teddy Bridgewater, DP brought in veteran Ryan Fitzpatrick. Fitz had led the 2011 squad all the way to the Championship Game after Matt Schaub went on IR with a right foot injury. Despite putting up a perfoDPance similar to what was being seen out of Luck in the first month, DP still took a huge loss at the hands of old foe Papa's Posse. In 2011 they had lost the Championship Game to PP by 18.07 with Woodhead and Fitzpatrick leading the way. This time it was 18.19, an eerily similar margin of defeat. Duck Punchers was in foreign territory. They hadn't dipped this low below .500 since week 5 of the 2013 season, when they hit 1-4 on their way to a 7-6 finish. With Fitzpatrick on the bye, Duck Punchers had no one to fall back on when Luck was ruled out of the week 5 Thursday Night Football matchup with the Houston Texans. Desperate for a win and facing powerhouse Deez Sons of Bitchez, DP had to sift through the thin Free Agent market for a replacement. That replacement came in the form of second year Jaguar Blake Bortles. Not even close to being an elite QB, Bortles had managed to average 35.19 points in his last three games. Bortles put the team on his back to the tune of 37.15 points, more than any other team's starting QB with the exception of The Shotti Bunch. He handily beat Aaron Rodgers, who had a 2-INT day against the Rams. The rest of the team stepped up as well after Donte Moncrief chocked on Thursday Night and just barely managed 1.3 points. Two other mid-week aquisitions helped lead the way, Green Bay Defense and Willie Snead. Duck Punchers still trailed at the start of Monday Night Football, but it didn't take long for The Great Woodhead to put Duck Punchers ahead. Duck Punchers pulled off the upset of the season with their second come from behind victory of the year, beating Deez Sons of Bitchez 229.48-221.65. The upset was the first of a three game win streak that put the team back over .500 for the first time since their championship victory in 2014. Their most convincing win of the season was in week 7 when they beat ma ma momma said 279.96-215.64. Andrew Luck had 45.20 points in the victory. The Great Woodhead had another monster game. Cooks beat his projection for the second time in three games. Following the win, Duck Punchers traded away Cooks to Paddock 9 for Stefon Diggs, the rookie playing for Minnesota. The trade was accompanied by a 10th round pick. He received a 12th in return. This was the beginning of the end for Duck Punchers. Diggs was decent perfoDPer for a few weeks but his magic ran out while Cooks continued to be a consistent WR threat for the rest of the season. Duck Punchers also had problems finding the right defense, but lucked into Carolina Defense on November 10th when FreeOJ dropped them (they'd already owned both NYJ and DEN defenses). Entering their game against GaroppoblowMe in week 8, the matchup seemed to be a close one. A once great franchise vs. an emerging power. If Duck Punchers won it would sway the balance of the league back in his favor. Unfortunately for them it was the second of two 300-point perfoDPances for GBM. The shadow of the Paddock 9 trade loomed over him. Diggs broke ten points just once over the five final weeks of the season. Andrew Luck went out in week nine and would not return for the rest of the regular season. In his stead, Derek Carr took over. Carr, with his eerie resemblance to Patrick, perfoDPed well but not well enough. Duck Punchers dropped crucial games to The Shotti Bunch and FreeOJ. Despite this, they still won in week 11 to keep their playoff hopes alive. Carolina defense came up big with 46 points and even though the rest of the team faltered, the 165.02 they mustered up was enough for a 6.66 point victory over Paddock 9. In week 13 they controlled their own destiny. Going up against Papa's Posse, Duck Punchers needed only to win and they would clinch the 6 seed. The loser of the matchup would fall out of playoff contention. Duck Punchers had the point advantage on Papa's Posse, so despite PP having one more win a victory of them would have given Duck Punchers the tie breaking advantage. The game was back and forth. Robinson had 52.30 points, but that was cancelled out when Brandon Marshall had 37.10. Papa's Alfred Morris came up with just 1.50, but Tyler Eifort was out with an injury and his replacement MacDonald only gave Duck Punchers 3.80. Derek Carr was cruising, until a late pick-six took away 9 points from Duck Punchers and Darren Sproles ran back a punt return for a touchdown. That sealed the fate of the season. Duck Punchers would not repeat as champion. It was the first time in the franchise's five year history that they would finish under .500 and the first time they would miss the playoffs. Franchise Statistics Head-to-Head Records